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Published on April 9, 2008

Baker Tilly Differentiate (Thailand), a Bangkok-based human resource management company, is expanding its operations to other Asian markets and is expected to double its clients to 120 companies by the end of this year.

Robert Brown, one of two principals of the company, said BTD is projecting to double its businesses this year, partly due to the completion of the firm's Human Resource Information System (HRIS) that has been developed over the past two years.

Currently, 60 companies, including Microsoft, BMW and Krung Thai Credit are renting the HRIS from BTD to manage their HR back-office operations.

Brown said BTD has invested more than Bt10 million in the software developed by its team of world-class Thai IT professionals. From small companies with only one or two workers, to large companies that employ thousands of people, businesses can use the HRIS which provides Web-based access to important HR information to managers, helping companies manage payrolls, leave applications, time attendance, benefits, performance appraisal, travelling expenses and more.

John Murphy joined BTD as general manager of business solutions in December. Murphy brought with him a diverse business background with working experiences in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the US, Canada, Thailand and Singapore, in a variety of HR director roles.

Murphy said some Thai companies hesitate to outsource basic HR functions because their HR people are not happy to see their department shrinking, even though they would be able to gain more responsibilities in strategic HR jobs.

"The HR's job is to attract, develop and retain high-performance workers. Asia is no longer a place for cheap labour. There is the real war for [attracting] talents," he said.

While helping clients getting rid of routine HR jobs through HRIS, BTD is also providing them value-added services, Brown said.

"We don't want to computerise inefficient processes. We identify processes that can be improved," he said.

Pichaya Changsorn

The Nation